[Granville-Hough] 12 Dec 2009 - The Hough Legacy from Macclesfield

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:28:56 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: The Hough Legacy from Macclesfield - 12 Dec 2009

    My particular branch of the Hough family seems to have been Quakers  
(or Friends) who came with William Penn to Pennsylvania.   Their home 
seems to have been Macclesfield in the eastern part of County Cheshire, 
also called East Chester, in England near the Irish sea..  The yDNA for 
descendants of this group of Houghs seems very close to mine with a few 
mutations.  It is called the Viking DNA and is found in Norway, England, 
Ireland, Hebrides, Greenland, and other places the Vikings settled 
between 900 and 1000 AD.  Macclesfield still has its Monthly Meeting and 
its customs remind me of things my father said and did.  Perhaps he had 
inherited points of view, the origin of which he did not know.
This may be illustrated with the following welcome which is in use TODAY 
at Macclesfield worship meetings.: (For those puzzled by "the light" 
mentioned in the last two lines, it may be helpful to re-read John 
chapter 1, verses 1 through 13.)

WELCOME FRIEND

If you are wondering about God,
Looking for a purpose in life,
Craving company, or seeking solitude,
Come to our Meeting for worship!
We shall not ask you to speak or sing,
We will not ask you what you believe,
We will simply offer you our friendship,
And a chance to sit quietly and think,
And perhaps somebody will speak,
And perhaps somebody will read,
And perhaps somebody will pray,
And perhaps you will find here
That which you are seeking.
We are not saints,
We are not cranks,
We are not different --
Except that we believe
That the light is in us all,
Waiting to be discovered!

    Perhaps we should paraphrase this welcome for our Saturday morning 
meeting of Promise Keepers at the Lutheran Church of the Cross.